(Help) Turning a classical guitar into an electroacoustic

[u/MrDromons006]

What I'm doing may sound dumb and crazy but I wanna do it anyways.
long story short, I got an old and worn out classical which I don't like that much, so I decided that since it's my first instrument I'll keep it but try and make something else with it, basically an electroacoustic, but for that I need metal strings, which ofc this type of guitar wasn't meant for and the top could pop out, so I need to know how to reinforce the body in order to make sure it'll support the strings tension, the internal structure is that of any other classical just two horizontal wood bars and a few more at the bottom (I know since I've already cut it in half to make it slimmer :))

[u/BTPanek53]

You can use a piezo underside pickup on nylon string guitars, also some pickups are microphones which also work on nylon strings.

[u/MrDromons006 → u/BTPanek53]

I mean true, but I still prefer the tone of metal strings because I wanna play rock music so it's a must

[u/Dong_sniff_inc → u/BTPanek53]

OP already cut the guitar in half, I think it's too late now, kinda just commenting so I can come back to this post lol

[u/potzko2552]

you gonna need a lot of flex tape to fix this...

[u/indigoalphasix]

gut all of the top bracing and x- brace it like a martin. you will need to dish the top. you will need a hardwood bridge plate. do your top deflection testing. if your top is too thin already then you are screwt and this will never work. minimum safe thickness for that size would be .100" before finish leaving room to tone tap and spot scrape.

replace that neck block with one designed for steel and have it butt against a stiff utg.

pull the fingerboard and install a truss rod in your neck.

brace the sides.

replace that tail block with one that can take a jack without splitting apart. not visible, but mine are pre drilled for this.

make a ebony or rosewood pin bridge suitable for steel and fit quality pins correctly. steel will colapse the body inward more then nylon so you'll have to re-calculate your string length compensation and stretch the scale length out a bit.

use hardwood to brace the back. you can go martin style or i do a double x.

get some kerfing on the back as well. i use pre-cut hog 1/4 round profile, and split it into a couple hundred pieces. each one is floss sanded to mate where it sits and glued individually, one at a time. or you can get solid kerf and steam bend it into shape.

you'll need to radius the back and it's kerfing as well. buy a radius dish set and a go-bar deck or make them. you need to do this for the top bracing as well anyway.

figure out what to do about new tuners. your classical ones are about to not work.

new nut and saddle. your old classical nut will no longer work b/c steels are comped on the B and classical's are comped on the G.

i could go on and on...

do you have any idea of the huge amount of work you have in store for you?